Another "Best" Long Run Ever!

I had my best long run ever back in May. Then I out-did that last week. And now I did even better this week!

We spent the last 7 days in Alexandria with my folks and sister's family:

Last night from our deck.


My nephew and son fishing.


Everyone floating down the channel between 2 lakes nearby.


Charlie jumping.


Henry skiing!


Charlie with a small largemouth!

My long run this week was on the Central Lakes Trail that runs through Alexandria. I ran 5.5 miles out through Garfield, 5.5 miles back, and then tacked on another mile to the east:

12.03 miles in 1:19:42 (6:37.51 pace).

First of all, that's my fastest overall pace ever for a long run! That's not something I "aim" for, but it's just what happened. My long run last week was 6:39 pace, and that HAD been my fastest before 6:37.51 this week.

Secondly, like my long run back in May, I kept all 6 half-mile splits of my last 3 miles under 3:00! My last 3 miles were 17:29 overall, with half-mile splits of 2:52, 2:57, 2:58, 2:56, 2:57, and 2:48. That was only the 2nd time I've done that.

And most importantly, this was the first time ever that I averaged sub-6:00 over my middle 6 "pace" miles! For these middle "pace" miles, I did 6:04.5 pace back in May. Then I did 6:01.2 last week. And this week, I covered those middle miles in 5:59.17 pace (35:55 overall).

Here were all my splits from that run as copy/pasted from my training log: my warm-up miles, my "pace" miles, and then my cool-down miles as half-mile splits all run without stopping:

2.5 WU: 3:55, 3:49, 3:46, 3:45, 3:48

6 pace miles: 3:06, 3:10, 3:02, 3:03, 3:02, 3:01, 2:52, 2:57, 2:58, 2:56, 2:57, 2:48 = 35:55 (5:59.17/pace).

18:26 first 3, 17:29 last 3!! Last 3 miles had half mile splits all under 3:00!

CD: 3:35, 3:31, 3:28, 3:31, 3:27, 3:29, 3:28, 0:10 (0.03 miles)

Now, this is a LITTLE unfair because it's a super flat trail: it's an old railroad trail that had 150 feet of ascent over those 12 miles, when I'm used to about double that running along the river at home. So it's not necessarily saying I'm in the best shape ever. But having this good run come after last week's good run DOES feel nice!

Hoping this brings good forture for an upcoming race!... more on that shortly...